Various BDNF administrations attenuate SPS-induced anxiety-like behaviors

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2022-09, Vol.788, p.136851-136851, Article 136851
• Main Authors: Yin, Jun-Bin, Liu, Hai-Xia, Shi, Wei, Ding, Tan, Hu, Huai-Qiang, Guo, Hong-Wei, Jin, Shan, Wang, Xiao-Ling, Zhang, Ting, Lu, Ya-Cheng, Cao, Bing-Zhen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety-like behaviors; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF); Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); Single-prolonged stress (SPS); Tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB)
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2022.136851

•The levels of BDNF in the cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) were significantly reduced after the rats experienced single-prolonged stress (SPS).•The reductions of percentages of time spent in the central area to total time in the open field test, induced by SPS, were dose-dependently mitigated after BDNF intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injections.•BDNF i.c.v. administration also dose-dependently increased the preference of the light box for the rats experiencing SPS challenges in the light-dark box test.•Both protein and mRNA expressions of tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala were significantly increased after SPS challenges.•Various injection routes of BDNF all produced anxiolytic effects. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become epidemic following severely stressful incidents. Previous studies have shown that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has anxiolytic effects on various anxiety or depression disorders including PTSD. However, the detailed mechanisms of BDNF for treating PTSD were rarely investigated. In the current study, single-prolonged stress (SPS) was used as an animal model recapitulating specific aspects for a PTSD-like phenotype. The effects of BDNF on SPS-induced anxiety-like behaviors were investigated. We showed that the levels of BDNF in the cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) were significantly reduced after the rats experienced SPS. The SPS-induced reductions of percentages of time spent in the central area to total time in the open field test, were dose-dependently mitigated after BDNF intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injections. BDNF i.c.v. administration also dose-dependently increased the preference of the light box in the light–dark box test. Both expressions of tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) protein and mRNA in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala were significantly increased after SPS challenges. BDNF i.c.v. administration attenuated these compensatory increases of TrkB. At last, the anxiolytic effects of BDNF on SPS model were also observed by using other two injection methods. These results inspired us to study that different administrations of BDNF were used in patients with PTSD in the future, in-depthly.